As the global community turns its attention to New York for the 70th UN Commission on the Status of Women, a powerful truth is emerging from the corridors of power and the grassroots alike, lasting progress on gender equality cannot be carried by women alone.
Founder of ConcordeApp and Semaform Foundation, Chaste Inegbedion, has called for a coordinated global response to gender inequality, warning that women continue to bear the burden of systemic change while male allyship remains largely underutilised and misunderstood across industries and institutions.
Speaking ahead of the Handshake Summit and Awards, themed “Advancing Women’s Influences in a Changing World: Verified Connections, Measurable Impact,” Inegbedion urged governments, corporations, and tech leaders to move beyond performative support and invest in infrastructure that verifies, measures, and scales women’s contributions to sustainable development.
One such example of this vision in action can be found in the Handshake Summit itself, a gathering organised by ConcordeApp in collaboration with stakeholders including The Mothership, Kaleidoscope Business Project, and Waterlight Save Initiative. The summit will bring together UN delegates, tech executives, and community leaders to enhance meaningful partnership and measurable outcomes for women across the globe, reflecting a growing shift towards gender partnership approaches that prioritise verified connections and institutional accountability.
“Across every sector I have worked in from Amazon to AT&T to grassroots femtech initiatives I have watched women’s labor be treated as ‘human residue,'” Inegbedion explained.
“It is the social impact that doesn’t fit into spreadsheets. The relationships. The community trust. The dignity of work. This gap contributes to delayed funding, increased burnout, and systemic exclusion of women who require access and investment to scale their impact.”
The Handshake Summit was designed to strengthen the ability of institutions and male allies to recognise women’s leadership and direct resources toward measurable partnership. Inegbedion stressed that men, as the dominant holders of corporate and political power, play a critical role in accelerating gender equity.
“At ConcordeApp and Semaform Foundation, we believe sustainable change begins when men stop spectating and start participating,” he said. “By strengthening the capacity of male allies to show up consistently, we strengthen the entire equity response chain.”
This gathering of leaders reflects what Inegbedion describes as the essential shift from intent to investment. The summit will focus on improving verified connections between women leaders and institutional buyers, establishing clearer funding pathways, strengthening mentorship and sponsorship pipelines, and reducing the data gap through technology that measures the ROI of relationships.
Participants will also be introduced to ConcordeApp’s voice feature, designed specifically to help women navigating large international conferences prepare, connect, and project confidence in rooms where they have historically been invisible.
Inegbedion emphasised that the initiative goes beyond a single event, describing it as part of a broader strategy to build sustainable partnership infrastructure capable of addressing the growing challenges of an unequal world. “We are not merely hosting a summit,” he said.
“We are building systems.” The programme incorporates a research component to generate reliable data on partnership patterns, funding flows, and allyship effectiveness within global conferences and institutions, with pre- and post-summit assessments, field documentation, and follow-up monitoring to evaluate effectiveness and guide future scale-up across additional international gatherings including the World Economic Forum in Davos, COP30 in Belém, and the World Bank Spring Meetings.
The research framework is being coordinated in partnership with the NGO Committee on the Status of Women and supported by the Nigeria Ministry of Women Affairs delegates attending the 70th Commission on the Status of Women.
Further reinforcing the growing recognition that sustainable progress comes from partnership rather than top-down responses is the IWD 2026 Give To Gain Campaign, which encourages a mindset of generosity and collaboration. Give To Gain emphasizes the power of reciprocity and support.
When people, organisations, and communities give generously, opportunities and support for women increase. Giving is not a subtraction, it’s intentional multiplication. When women thrive, we all rise. Whether through donations, knowledge, resources, infrastructure, visibility, advocacy, education, training, mentoring, or time, contributing to women’s advancement helps create a more supportive and interconnected world.
“The Handshake Summit serves as a vital bridge between New York’s institutional landscape and the grassroots leaders building the future,” Inegbedion said. “When we give our attention, our resources, and our commitment, we all gain a world where women’s influence is not the exception but the expectation.”
